Barry Murphy returns once more to trawl the TV and radio guides (so you don't have to), finding anything worth tuning into this week. All listings are for UK terrestrial TV, Freeview and national radio, with the shows running from Friday 23rd October to Thursday 29th October 2009.

Highlights of the week

Soul legend Smokey Robinson is in town this week, and all over the media, as he takes to the Roundhouse stage in London for a celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the birth of Motown records. His performance on last Tuesdays edition of Later… proved that the great man is still in fine voice and his concert BBC Electric Proms: Smokey Robinson (Radio: BBC Radio 2. Saturday 24th, 8pm and TV: BBC 2. Sunday 25th, 11pm) featuring his band and the BBC Concert Orchestra, with specially commissioned new arrangements of his most cherished hits, promises to be the highlight of this years Electric Proms season. Smokey also features on Later… with Jools Holland (BBC 2. Friday 23rd, 11.35pm), is the special guest of Paul Gambaccini (BBC Radio 2. Saturday 24th, 9.15pm) and talks to actor and Motown fan Martin Freeman on The Culture Show (BBC 2. Thursday 29th, 7pm).

BBC 4's Friday music strand this week is devoted to Krautrock. Documentary Krautrock: the Rebirth of Germany (Friday 23rd, 9pm & 1.25am and Saturday 24th, 11.30pm & 1.30am) looks at how a radical generation of musicians created a new German musical identity out of the cultural ruins of war. Between 1968 and 1977 bands like Neu!, Can, Faust and Kraftwerk would look beyond western rock and roll to create some of the most original and uncompromising music ever heard. They shared one common goal – a forward-looking desire to transcend Germany's gruesome past – but that didn't stop the music press in war-obsessed Britain from calling them Krautrock. Also showing is Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum (Friday 23rd, 10pm and Saturday 24rd, 12.30am), a compilation of performances by the electronic band, filmed during a 2004 world tour and featuring songs including Autobahn and Radioactivity.

Friday 23rd October

TV

The Champions – ITV 4. 6.00pm – 7.00pmThe team looks for the source of contaminated drugs.

Mastermind – BBC 2. 8.00pm – 8.30pmTonight's topics include the life and career of Bill Hicks.

Krautrock: the Rebirth of Germany – BBC 4. 9.00pm – 10.00pm (Repeated 1.25am)New. Documentary examining how radical German bands, known as Krautrockers in the music press, developed a new musical identity that influenced many British bands.

Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum – BBC 4. 10.00pm – 11.00pmNew. A compilation of performances by the electronic band, filmed during a 2004 world tour and featuring songs including Autobahn and Radioactivity.

Film: The Stepford Wives (1975) – ITV 3. 10.00pm – 12.25amSci-fi horror starring Katherine Ross. When liberated wife Joanna Eberhart moves to the suburb of Stepford with her husband, she is shocked by the subservience of the other wives.

Peep Show (6/6) – Channel 4. 10.00pm – 10.30pmSeries six. New. Worried that Jeff is muscling in on his fatherly duties, Mark decides to learn to drive so he can take Sophie to hospital when the baby is due.

Art Deco Icons (1/4) – BBC 4. 7.00pm – 7.30pmArchitectural historian David Heathcote explores four of the best examples of the Art Deco design movement in Britain, beginning with Claridge's Hotel in London. Part of the Age of Glamour strand.

The Sweeney – ITV 4. 8.00pm – 9.00pmRegan goes all out to stop an illegal trade in guns.

The Thick of it (1/8) – BBC 2. 10.10pm – 10.40pmNew. Series Three. Armando Iannucci's excoriating political comedy returns on the day of the reshuffle at Number Ten. And with everyone else turning down the job at the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship, Malcolm Tucker has no option but to promote rank outsider Nichola Murray.

Krautrock: the Rebirth of Germany – BBC 4. 11.30pm – 12.30am (Repeated 1.30am – 2.30am GMT)Documentary examining how radical German bands, known as Krautrockers in the music press, developed a new musical identity that influenced many British bands.

Kraftwerk: Minimum-Maximum – BBC 4. 12.30am – 1.30amNew. A compilation of performances by the electronic band, filmed during a 2004 world tour and featuring songs including Autobahn and Radioactivity.

The Ghost Ship (1943) – BBC 2. 2.00am – 3.05amCreepy horror starring Richard Dix. A ship's commanding officer starts behaving strangely. The rarest of the Val Lewton's horror films, a stolen story and a subsequent lawsuit against the film has meant that it remains unseen by many people. Worth setting the recorder for.

Radio

Sounds of the 60s – BBC Radio 2. 8.00am – 10.00amBrian Matthew spins two hours of hits, B -sides and album tracks.

BBC Electric Proms: Smokey Robinson – BBC Radio 2. 8.00pm – 9.15pmDetroit-born singer/songwriter Smokey Robinson performs live with the BBC Concert Orchestra. The programme features new arrangements of Robinson's Motown classics with the Miracles as well as solo work, including his new album. Robinson left the Miracles in 1972, having sung lead on defining Motown hits such as Shop Around, You've Really Got a Hold on Me, I Second That Emotion and The Tears of a Clown. With Paul Gambaccini, whose interview with Robinson follows.

The Real Cabaret – BBC 4. 9.00pm – 10.00pmActor Alan Cumming meets Liza Minnelli, German singer Ute Lemper and musician Coco Schumann to discover the origins of author Christopher Isherwood's short stories Goodbye to Berlin. Part of the Age of Glamour strand.

The South Bank Show – ITV 1. 10.15pm – 11.15pmNick Hornby. The writer's new novel, Juliet, Naked, is his first set outside North London. Also about to be released is the film An Education, for which he wrote the screenplay. He talks to Melvyn Bragg.

Smokey Robinson: Electric Proms – BBC 2. 11.00pm – 12MidnightHighlights of Smokey Robinson's celebrations of 50 years of Motown at London's Roundhouse. Including classic songs and new material, the American soul legend and his band are joined by the BBC Concert Orchestra.

Monday 26th October

TV

Film: The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1939) – Film4. 11.00am – 12.45pmSports murder mystery starring Leslie Banks. When a footballer is murdered, his former mistress and team mates are questioned.

Inside Antiques – BBC 4. 7.30pm – 8.00pmBeginning an evening of Age of Glamour programmes, Lars Tharp explores the age of Art Deco, which first sprang to life at the end of the First World War and captured the optimism and forward-thinking of the period. Lars takes a closer look at risque ivory and discovers what the Moulin Rouge, Tutankhamun and tennis all have in common.

Glamour's Golden Age (2/3) -BBC 4. 9.00pm – 10.00pmNew. Exploring the decades between the First and Second World Wars, when a cultural revolution in music, fashion and the arts occurred. Narrated by Hermione Norris.

Ghosts in the Machine – BBC 4. 9.00pm – 10.00pmNew. A look at the history of supernatural programmes on British television, examining such classic ghost stories as Whistle and I'll Come to You. With contributions by Bill Paterson, Sarah Greene and Yvette Fielding.

Auf Wiedersehen, Pet – ITV 4. 9.00pm – 11.10pmDouble bill. Work on the building site ends with a bang as Barry's
bike explodes.

Radio

Baroque and Roll: Townshend on Purcell – BBC Radio 4. 1.30pm – 2.00pmRock star Pete Townshend reveals that the Baroque composer Henry Purcell has long influenced his songwriting for the Who and other projects. He tells how he was inspired by Purcell's dramatic genius for his most intriguing compositions, including Tommy.

BBC 4. 8.00pm – 9.00pmGlamour's Golden Age (2/3) – Exploring the decades between the First and Second World Wars, putting a spotlight on London's bright young things. Narrated by Hermione Norris.

The Thick of it (1/8) – BBC 4. 11.30pm – 12MidnightNew. Series Three. Armando Iannucci's excoriating political comedy returns on the day of the reshuffle at Number Ten. And with everyone else turning down the job at the Department of Social Affairs and Citizenship, Malcolm Tucker has no option but to promote rank outsider Nichola Murray.

Peep Show (6/6) – E4. 11.35pm – 12.05amSeries six. Worried that Jeff is muscling in on his fatherly duties, Mark decides to learn to drive so he can take Sophie to hospital when the baby is due.

Film: Richard Pryor: Live on the Sunset Strip (1982) – ITV 4. 11.55pm – 1.35amA typically ribald stand-up performance by the influential comedian, recorded at the Hollywood Palladium at the height of his fame in 1982.

Radio

Reece Shearsmith's Haunted House (1/2) – BBC Radio 4. 11.30am – 12Mid-dayAn Appointment with Fear. In the run-up to Halloween, Reece Shearsmith hosts an energetic, witty discussion on horror in front of an audience at the reputedly haunted Sutton House in Hackney. Joined by horror enthusiasts Mark Gatiss, Vic Reeves and Yvette Fielding, he examines classic scary moments from British radio and TV, and explores the ingredients of a classic horror story.

Radio 2 Live: David Bowie – BBC Radio 2. 11.00pm – 12MidnightTo celebrate 75 years of the BBC's Maida Vale studios, a chance to hear David Bowie live at the studios from 2002. With songs from the then new album Heathen, plus live rarities such as The Bewlay Brothers and Alabama Song.